Quiksilver SA Surfing Champs go mobile for best surf
Mathew Kruger : photo Pablo Ponzone
Quiksilver South Africa Surfing Championship presented by Peugeot and Samsung.
Surfing South Africa Cape Peninsula 27 - 30 April 2006
Cooking Surf Greets the Open Men and U/20 Boys
Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 27 April, 2006 : - - The opening day of the 41st Quiksilver SA Surfing Champs was a mixed bag, with the contest changing venue mid-way through the day. Long Beach was the call this morning, where some small but fun waves were coming through, but the beachbreak peaks were doomed with the impending spring high tide.
The standouts at Long Beach were Mathew Kruger, John McCarthy and Shane Thorne, who all surfed confidently and aggressively in their heats to get comfortable firsts. "I scored high on a good left," said McCarthy, "But I saw that there were some good rights coming through as well, and I got onto a few of them as well. The sets were really inconsistent, but I got my waves."
Another stand-out in the cold Long Beach water was former SA Champ Quintin Jones, who won his heat easily as well, despite knocking a fin out in the shorebreak and having to grab his back-up board.
Jones found the small but highly rippable low-tide right-handers much to his liking, and racked up some high scores early in the heat.
As the tide crept up towards spring high, so the waves at Long Beach got worse, and another spot around the corner started firing.
Utilising the 'fully mobile' status of the event, contest director Cyril Nel had no hesitation in changing venue, and the entire contest moved to The Ledge at Kommetjie.
It was the clear intention of Quiksilver that the surfers would get the best surf available on the day for this event, so the decision was an easy one.
Three to four-foot and highly rippable walls peeled down the section known as The Ledge, and the surfers in the remaining heats set about taking them apart. The rocks were soon filled with cheering team-mates and spectators, who had an in-your-face view of the surfers smashing apart the clean waves that were zippering along the rocks right in front of them.
Heat number 11 was the first to paddle out at The Ledge. Warren Tuck dominated most of this heat until he was pipped by a Marcus Theron and finished a comfortable second. "I found some form out there." said a pleased Tucky. "Got close towards the end though, so I'm stoked I got through."
Sean Holmes and Ryan Payne, both on their backhands, also won their heats, dspite some fierce competition from Ryan Ribbink and Graeme Field respectively.
With the waves still cooking, the call was made to run the U/20 Boys for as long as there is enough light for the judges to see. Full results will appear on the Surfing South Africa website www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za later.
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